Effect of Weight-Mile Tax on Road Damage in Oregon

Details

• Creators:
  Rufolo, Anthony M. ; Bronfman, Lois ; Kuhner, Eric
• Corporate Creators:
  Oregon. Dept. of Transportation. Research Group
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Trucks
  • Weight
  • Taxation
  • Axles
  • Pavement damage
  • Road maintenance
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA-OR-RD-00-06
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Oregon ; United States
• TRIS Online Accession Number:
  00778845
• OCLC Number:
  42733114
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Oregon. Dept. of Transportation. Research Group
• Abstract:
  Oregon's weight-mile tax was amended in 1990 to provide for a lower tax rate for trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds if they added axles. The additional axles within a weight class reduce the amount of road damage. The tax break was largely based on equity considerations, since trucks within a weight class tend to do less road damage if they have more axles; however, the tax reduction also created an economic incentive to add axles and thus reduce road damage. This project attempted to determine if the tax break actually led to an increase in the number of axles within weight classes, which would result in a reduction in the amount of road damage. An analysis of statistical data indicated that there has been a small increase in the number of axles in most weight classes, but it was not possible to determine if this was due to the weight-mile tax. A series of structured interviews supplemented the statistical analysis and indicated that the tax incentive was not a major determinant of truck configuration. One probable reason is that regulatory constraints limit the effectiveness of the tax incentives. 100 p.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  SPR 313
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/14414/dot_14414_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 923.13 KB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:53c22b209b2da6353ccf27cd648d3a89358f93d889991ce2c7c37dffa44524ec